Generally, there are two types of available food presses for pressing garlic and the like. The first, which is more common, is the lever arm type. The second is the less common screw type.
The lever arm type of press usually includes a pair of levers or arms pivotably hinged together at their forward ends. Typically, the upper arm includes a pressure plate adjacent the hinge and the lower arm includes a basket adjacent the hinge which approximately corresponds to the breadth of the plate. When the arms are rotatably separated about their hinge, the plate evacuates the basket and allows cloves of garlic or other foodstuffs to be inserted for pressing. When the arms are moved together, the plate enters the basket and contacts the cloves or the like and a squeezing force applied to the free ends of the arms will force the foodstuffs through perforations or openings in the bottom of the basket. This process produces mash, juice, pulp, and/or reduced sized pieces of the cloves or other foodstuffs.
As used herein, cloves of garlic refer to the separable segments of the garlic bulb.
Food presses of the lever type have drawbacks. Among the most important are their limited capacity and inability to fully press foodstuffs through the basket. One reason for these limitations is that the conventional presses have handles in the range of about 4 to 6 inches in length for ease or convenience of use. General experience has shown that substantially longer handles make the press cumbersome and difficult to use and store. These limitations, however, limit the mechanical advantages, which can be achieved, e.g., normally about 3 or 4 to 1. This limitation, in turn, restricts the amount of pressure which can be obtained. To accommodate this restriction, while attempting to obtain at least adequate pressing pressures of about 30 to 40 pounds per square inch, necessitates the use of relatively small plates and baskets, thereby limiting the amount of foodstuffs which can be pressed per loading. Typically, the pressure plates have a surface area of about 0.5 to 1.0 inch.
In addition, the achievable pressures are often inadequate to force all of the fibrous material through the openings in the basket when pressing foodstuffs like garlic. As a result, the fibrous material may block the final advance of the pressure plate. In subsequent cycles and between cleanings, the problem is compounded by the buildup of more and more fibrous material, further blocking the final advance of the pressure plate. Moreover, changing the scale of the press will have no effect on pressure; however, lengthening the handles while maintaining the area of the pressure plate of a conventional lever type food press will increase the mechanical advantage or pressure, but can make the press less convenient to use and store. Decreasing the area of the pressure plate while maintaining the length of the handle of a conventional lever type food press will also increase the mechanical advantage or pressure, but will reduce the capacity, making the press less convenient.
Some available lever type presses have other drawbacks. In some presses, the pressure plates are rigidly attached to the rotatable upper arm, and the baskets are rigidly attached to the rotatable lower arm. In rotating, the plate travels through an arc, relative to the basket. This arcuate or non-linear path of movement requires excessive clearances between the edges of the plate and the walls of the basket. This excessive clearance results in "blowing back" a substantial portion of the foodstuffs past the edges of the loosely fitting pressure plate instead of being forced through the perforations.
The inability to adequately clean some available garlic presses, moreover, may result in the press becoming, at best, undesirable, and, at worst, a health problem.
Thus, lever type presses are limited in capacity and may produce inadequate pressures. Some presses also may have blow back and cleanliness problems.
Screw type presses generally include hollow vertical cylindrical vessels that have a closed bottom end with perforated openings, a cylindrically formed lid with a threaded drive shaft in axial alignment, a flat pressure or contact plate of substantially the same interior vessel diameter that is operatively connected to the shaft inside the device, and a rotatable drive wheel or crank-handle attached to the shaft outside the device. The screw type press must have the shaft and plate in an elevated position and be at least partially disassembled to allow the insertion of cloves between the contact plate and the perforated openings, then re-assembled for use. The handle is rotated about its axis to force the pressure plate to contact the cloves and press them through the openings in the base. This type of screw press produces essentially the same mash, juice, pulp, and/or reduced sized pieces of the cloves of foodstuffs that are produced by a lever press.
Like the lever type press, conventional screw type presses have drawbacks. In a screw type press, more force may be required than in a lever type press, because the mechanical advantage, in this instance, is a factor of the diameter of the drive wheel or crank-handle, the distance of travel of the pressure plate caused by the threads on the drive shaft and the area of the pressure plate. Also, the pressures in a screw type press are constant and often inadequate to force all of the fibrous material through the openings when pressing foodstuffs like garlic. As in lever type presses, the fibrous material can block the final advance of the screw type pressure plate and problems can be compounded in subsequent cycles and between cleanings.
Also, in the large screw type presses, the vessel acts as both a storage means and a press. To provide the desired amount of juice, etc., on an as-needed basis, all of the foodstuffs in the larger vessel are compressed and only the needed amount is extracted. By such action, however, nature's preservation of the virgin foodstuffs (e.g., garlic cloves) is adversely affected and the freshness of the stored compressed foodstuffs may be diminished upon the next pressing.
In addition, screw type presses need to be disassembled for cleaning between cycles, which may discourage cleaning. In large vessels, the vessels may not be cleaned until all of the stored foodstuffs are pressed after repeated spaced apart cycles. Like some lever type presses, this can result in the screw type presses being undesirable and result in health problems.
Thus, there is a need for a new food press which overcomes the drawbacks of existing presses.